Who can know my despair
at the ones who talk too much.
The ones who don’t speak at all.
The ones who qualify and over-qualify.
The ones who can’t say this without first saying that.
Make them like stubble driven by the wind.
New poems from our contributors AKWE AMOSU, JUDITH BAUMEL, and ELIZABETH METZGER
Table of Contents:
Akwe Amosu | New citizen
Judith Baumel | Irij
Elizabeth Metzger | Talking to Jean about Love
| Talking to Jean about Love II
For May’s Friday Reads, we tapped a few Issue 13 contributors to find out what they’re reading. Their recommendations are diverse and complicated, dealing with hefty subjects—from mourning and the fear of death to geological history. If you haven’t read their works in Issue 13, it’s time to get started.
I found the Cyclops and his Galatea
in their shop on Piano Provenanza.
They’d been domestic for a while.
I’d gone for his wildflowers and Ragabo pines.
I’d gone for the wintry July breezes that
dilute the sulfur of his neighborhood.
I’d gone to see the roughened lava of
his searching, the obsidian of his instant grief.
The Sleep of Reason: New Poems from our Contributors.
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